Sweet Island Scent
by Giovanna Farina
Summary: Melia the Deathflower and Thorny Rose Bara are a force to be reckoned with, as Red-Haired Shanks and his crew can attest to.
1. The Deathflower

A/N: Sorry about all the redos/rewrites. XD;; I'm really trying hard to be a better writer so I have to keep going over stuff. You'll just have to put up with it. D

Note to **Jacinta** (I would have just replied to you but you were "anonymous". XD): Thank you! And yeah, I actually have about 11 chapters written or at least rough-drafted. But I keep going over and over the chapters and finding awkward crap I think I need to change in them. XD I'm also going by advice from friends. . Don't worry, those chaps'll all be posted again someday! :

Background: This story is set when Shanks is 26 and Benn is 27 (just a guess. o.0 I mean I'd assume he's older, but really, who knows.) So what I'm trying to say here is: Shanks still has two arms. :) Oh, and Melia and Bara are both 19. :D

(--)

"Oi, Beckman, I got a job for ya." Shanks grinned a little at his first mate, who looked over and cocked his head questioningly.

Pulling out a wanted poster, Shanks showed him the picture on it. "I want you to find this girl and bring her back here. I'll send a couple other men out too to help you. She should be in the town area or the harbor of the next island we dock at.

"Oh, and Beckman..." Shanks paused for a moment. "How do I say this...I don't really expect her to come with you voluntarily. Know what I mean?"

Benn Beckman nodded. "Surprisingly, yes." He took the wanted poster announcing the incrimination of Melia "The Deathflower" to study it, memorizing what the girl looked like. She looked nothing like what her Navy-given alias suggested. She appeared to be young and innocent, in her early twenties or perhaps late teens. Her jet-black, glossy hair was balanced evenly in two pigtails which were curled into barrel curls paralleled around a delicate and feminine face. She wore a sweet, exotic flower in her hair, a flower the same color as her eyes...what the color was exactly, it was hard to say; her eyes were a bit strange either way...their pupils were very small so it almost looked like she had none, which made her look...well, almost soul-less.

Benn nodded again, feeling he had her looks pretty well memorized. "When will we be docking at the island?" he inquired of Shanks.

Shanks calculated a bit. "I think only a couple hours," he replied. "Oh, and as for backup, you can take those two new rookies with you."

Benn looked at him, a little puzzled. "Backup? I think I can handle a young girl pretty well on my own."

Shanks raised an eyebrow and smirked at Benn's unfortunate wording. "That's a little too much information, so I'll just take your word for it," he quipped. Benn just rolled his eyes.

"You know what I mean. Was there something the wanted poster forgot to mention?"

Shanks snorted. "No, no...I just mean to cover more ground. You can look in one area of the town and they can check the other. Whoever finds her first can bring her back. And yes, I realize you'll find her first, but I just wanna see how they handle the job, at least."

Beckman frowned for a moment. "...fine; but I'm only doing this because you asked, not for them." He said, then paused for a moment. "Why exactly do you want this girl here, Captain? If you don't mind me asking..."

The captain grinned distractedly and downed half a bottle of whiskey before answering. "She's my little sister, that's why. Well, half-sister. We have the same father. It's been years since I've seen her and I just thought I'd better take advantage of being on the same island as her."

"...I see." Benn leaned back in his chair a bit then looked back at Shanks. "Then, why won't she 'come with me voluntarily'?"

Shanks laughed a little nervously. "She might if she remembered ever meeting me, but I doubt she does. She was only four at the time; and even if she did remember me and you went up to her and said, 'Hi, your big brother Red-Haired Shanks sent me, now follow me so I can take you to him,' the smart thing for her to do would be to run screaming to the police. ...And that reminds me, as soon as you and her and those rookies are back on the ship, we're setting sail again."

"Ah. Well, whatever you think's best, she's...your sister," Benn said a little cynically. Now that he knew what to look for, he grabbed the poster again and re-examined it. She DID have a little in common with Shanks as far as family resemblance went. There was something about her jaw line and expression that suggested sudden bursts of spirited, genuine laughter. Or maybe in a girl's case, giggling.

"Stop looking at my little sister like that." Shanks snatched the poster from him and sniggered. "You can handle girls all you want for all I care, except for this one," he stipulated, patting the poster as if it were alive.

Benn shook his head at him. "I was just trying to see if she looked similar to you. You two look nothing alike. And that's not a compliment." Benn closed his eyes, smirking a little, ignoring Shanks' heartbroken sobs.


	2. Plucked

Once they arrived at the island and the ship was docked, the command was given for the gangplank to be lowered and the two new recruits walked down it and set out into the town (while Benn just jumped over the ship's railing). If the Deathflower was in the town, as he had explained to the two newbies earlier (though they were too involved with their own obnoxious jokes to listen very well), it wouldn't be overly-difficult to find her, since the town itself was fairly small.

The two inexperienced pirates immediately ran off and made their way obnoxiously into the town. Benn sighed a little and watched them but didn't stop them, since he knew no matter what they did they would probably only get in the way anyway. He, on the other hand, opted for doing it the right way--quietly, calmly, and almost invisibly.

The two new recruits didn't take long before finding someone to take back to the ship, though they weren't even sure themselves that it was the right person. They had heard that the girl they were after was related to their captain, but they were not been paying much attention when being shown her poster; so when only ten minutes later they saw a red-haired girl, they immediately assumed she must be the one they were after. Having gagged and tied her despite her furious struggling, they began to make their way back to the ship.

Apparently Benn had been right in assuming they would just get in the way. He caught sight of them carrying their false prize back to their ship and took a moment to stare at them as he thought about stopping them. Fortunately, he re-thought it and decided they would only continue to be in the way; besides, what could they do? Let their captive go free so she could run off and sic the Navy on them? He'd just let the captain deal with it.

Benn himself, of course, had better luck than the rookies; maybe this was because he was more experienced (or because he wasn't an idiot). Of course, it did take him a bit longer than 10 minutes, since he didn't snatch the first girl he saw.

Pretty soon he realized that the number of corners and alleys he hadn't been by was starting to end. He had checked most of the town, but he knew that was useless if she wasn't even IN the town. He was about to go check the inns on the outskirts of the town when he came across a girl coming out of a shop, walking and chattering pleasantly with a couple of other young adults. Benn paused to examine her for a moment. Yes, yes it was indeed the Deathflower herself. He had definitely seen those empty-looking eyes before; and when she smiled at her companions, he saw a glimpse of her brother's simple, unaffected joy in her.

When they walked by his alley, Benn waited for them to go by just slightly. Then he reached out and used one swift, smooth motion to grab the unsuspecting girl by the waist and mouth. Pulling her back into the alley, he deftly wrapped a gag around her mouth, just tightly enough so that she couldn't scream, then tied her hands behind her back. It was a good thing he was so fast with the gagging, because the expression on the girl's face suggested that her scream was loud and high-pitched...and it would carry. He carefully hoisted her up over his shoulder and started back to the ship, just as invisibly and quietly as he had come into town.

The girl struggled desperately, as one might expect. Benn had to grab her by the back of her legs a few times. "Careful, you'll hurt yourself," he warned her once when she nearly slipped from his shoulder and onto the ground. He carefully readjusted her, grinning in amusement. The girl attempted to knee him in the chest, but that had even less effect than her first approach: Benn simply looked down at her knee, shrugged, and kept walking. Screaming through her gag was impossible, especially since it made her choke. After awhile she yielded to her new ordeal by simply going limp.

Benn felt her body flop over on his shoulder, and wondered if she had passed out. "Are you awake?" he asked in a low tone, trying to determine whether she was still conscious. The only response he got was a soft squeal of fear, but it was good enough for him. She was indeed awake. He took care that her limp body was secure on his shoulder as he easily found his way back to the docks and re-boarded the pirate ship via gangplank.


	3. Rose Among Thorns

Walking up the gangplank, Benn was very puzzled to be greeted with a shout of "_THAT'S_ her, you freaking _IDIOTS_!"

His confusion was partially cleared when he looked up and saw the captain pointing to the girl that was over her shoulder and glaring at the two rookie-scouts, who were cowering in front of their captain and trying to babble an excuse. "W-well we saw that girl and he thought--" "No, YOU were the one who saw her first!" "Well, YOU were the one who thought we should bring her back here!"

In front of them a red-headed girl sat bound and gagged in the same fashion as the black-haired girl he'd found and was now carrying. He shook his head at the situation and placed the girl on the ground next to the redhead.

The redhead glanced at Melia. Her eyes went wide with shock and she tried to scream something through her gag. Amazingly, the unconventional greeting was understood and returned, and more muffled shouts were exchanged back and forth between the two girls. Shanks looked at Benn and raised an eyebrow. "Seems these two know each other," he observed.

"Seems so," Benn responded with a quiet laugh, then knelt and pulled the gag off the redhead. Before it was even completely pulled off, she began screaming all sorts of nasty things at him, Shanks, her captors, and the entire crew, who shared a hearty round of laughter.

Shanks stepped up to the raging girl and said with an amused but courteous smile, "I'm terribly sorry, miss. Two idiots from my crew picked you up by mistake. It was your...friend that we wanted."

"Then why didn't you throw me off this leaky old tub in the first place?!" she screamed, then said aside to the other girl, "Not saying I'd rather just save myself." She got an understanding nod in response.

The captain gazed at her thoughtfully for a moment, eyebrows raised and arms crossed. "We-ell..." he began slowly, "...you see, it's been sort of awhile since we've really had anything decent to eat here on board the ship and--"

"WHAAAAT?!" The girl's eyes went wide and she screamed half in anger, half in fear. The whole crew burst into loud laughter.

Shanks wiped the tears of laughter from his eyes and looked back at the fire-headed girl. "What's your name, lass?"

"Bara_._" The response came in a low growl. "And you needn't bother introducing yourself, Captain Shanks," she added in a rather derisive tone.

"Well, it appears I needn't, indeed!" Shanks said with mock pride, but only got an angry grunt in response.

"What need has a powerful man like yourself with my sister, anyway?" Bara inquired sharply, making it clear that they'd have to go through her if they intended to harm Melia.

Now it was Shanks' turn to be confused. "Your...sister...?" He stared at the two then shook his head after a bit and said, "No, she's...she's MY sister." Bara stared back at him in confusion, not knowing what to say. Puzzled looks were passed all around the ship and poor Melia's head spun.

Finally Shanks decided to disregard Bara's comment, and got on his knees in front of Melia to pull off her ropes and gag. Smiling a bit, he looked at her and said with some affection, "It's been awhile, hasn't it, Melia? I wouldn't be surprised if you've forgotten me. You were only four when we last met. Do you remember? Dad introduced us."

Melia stared at him blankly for a good minute or so. Then her eyes began to widen and her heart began to pound excitedly. "I...I remember!" she half-whispered. "Mama wouldn't give me any dinner because--well, she said she was too busy, and I hadn't eaten in three days, so you took me to get something to eat." She couldn't ever fully forget how empty her tiny four-year-old tummy had felt.

Shanks smiled broadly again and nodded. "Let's see then...if I did my math right, you're 19 now, aren't you?" He grinned as she nodded slowly, still shocked. "We're seven years apart, that's easy enough to remember." He laughed a bit and patted her shoulder before standing back up and helping her to her feet.

Melia glanced down at Bara then turned to Shanks with a pleading look. He sighed a bit. "We have to turn the animal loose, do we?" he said with a frown, gesturing a crewmate to do so.

Bara was not the least bit grateful for being untied. In fact, she immediately tried to attack and kill the closest pirates to her. Pandemonium ensued among some of the crewmates as they screamed and tried to evade her while others laughed so hard it looked as if they'd be crying.

Shanks let the crew deal with her and pulled Melia into his cabin so they could talk for awhile before dinner. Within the few hours they had to converse, they began to feel like they'd never been separated.


	4. A Party

Eventually the crew had rounded Bara up and got her to sit down, promising Melia would sit beside her for dinner. The promise was fulfilled; Shanks sat in his usual spot with Melia between him and Bara. Dinner was a little more quiet than usual since, for once, nobody really knew what to say. Hearing the occasional lewd comment about Bara or Melia, Shanks (or even Bara herself) would occasionally glance sideways threateningly. Melia herself was oblivious to any coarse thought but ate her dinner placidly, and Bara was too deep in thought to bother with actually punishing any idiocy.

Once the unusual dinner was finished, Shanks decided that being reunited with his sister was due cause for a party. He and most of his crew always enjoyed a chance to drink and get drunk, despite the problems they'd have the next morning. It was worth it to most of them, and those that remained sober enough were always amused by the sight of their drunken crewmates harassing each other and being rowdy.

Melia and Bara weren't so much used to all this. The simple drunks from the cruise ship's small, attractive bars seemed tame compared to drunken pirates. Bara kept a suspicious eye out for any drunks, while Melia kept close by her and Shanks...though he proved to be of little help as he, too, was quickly intoxicated.

"Huvva drink, Melyuh!" Shanks slurred, slamming a bottle down in front of her with a wide grin.

Melia jumped a mile into the air then calmed herself. "Oh...no thank you, Bara might like some, but I only like sweet drinks," Melia answered politely, having no intention of drinking herself into oblivion in front of a pirate crew...or anyone, for that matter. Besides, it was true, she really didn't see the appeal of grog. Bara just sat sullenly.

"Huh? That...the...the kid? She's too young..." Shanks sniggered at his own "joke" as Bara went into a fit of angry twitching.

Turning to his sober first mate who was standing calmly over his shoulder, Shanks requested, "Oi, Beckman...git Melyuh somethin' sweet ta' drink 'n'...kanpai with, eh?..." Melia became a little alarmed and tried to object but the order was obeyed too quickly.

Benn came back only moments later with a glass of light red liquid, which he handed to Melia. "That was easier to find than I thought it would be, considering this crew's tastes," he said, almost to himself.

She hesitantly took the glass and scrutinized it. "Thank you," she said timidly after a moment and sipped it. He nodded and he sat back down.

"Melia the Deathflower, eh?" he said with a chuckle. "Sorry about earlier. That was strictly orders..." he laughed a bit. "I'm Benn Beckman. I'm Shanks's first mate."

Bara rolled her eyes at Benn irritatedly and huffed, then turned to Melia and said, "Hey, I'm gonna go somewhere less...noisy, mm-kay? I'll see you in a bit." Seeing Melia's brief nod, she walked out in search of peace and quiet.

Melia flinched slightly at hearing her alias. She hated the Navy for giving her the infamy of a dirty cutthroat. She wasn't like that, and didn't think it was right that the Navy should decide her reputation, rather than letting her set it herself through her actions and character.

"That's just...I...the Navy--"

"No, I understand." Benn smiled and nodded. "The Navy doesn't usually know what they're doing. I've seen lots more deadly flowers than you."

Melia blushed a little at being referred to as a flower. "I...it's because my name...it's a type of flower," she explained, "a...a plumeria." Her fingers reached up to touch the small flower behind her ear, presumably the type she'd been named after.

"It matches your eyes," Benn remarked with a nod, causing Melia to blush again, before she turned to her intoxicated older brother with a curious look. He was rustling aimlessly through some papers and maps. Knowing what the captain was trying to find out, Beckman stood and went out of the room for a moment, then came back and began helping Shanks reorganize his papers. "You won't find out anything by doing that. Stop making a mess," he ordered.

"I will too," mumbled Shanks, making even more of a mess, and was promptly backhanded across the face.

"You'll thank me for that tomorrow when you can actually find the papers you're looking for," Benn informed him, restacking the pile. "I just checked with the navigator. We'll be at the island tomorrow morning at about nine."

"You...you think I'll recover from my hangover by then?" Shanks sniggered drunkenly, picking himself up off the floor.

"...no. You won't even be awake by then."

Shanks swore sadly and took another drink. "That's too bad. Oh well, it's worth it." He took another swig before turning to Melia. "Hey...hey...sis...let's have drinking contest!" he challenged her cheerfully.

Melia's eyes widened a bit with alarm. "Erm...no, thanks..."

"Awwwww, ci'mun..." Shanks patted her shoulder heavily.

Thinking fast, Melia replied sweetly, "I'd love to, but...I don't stand a chance against you. You wouldn't want to embarrass me by winning with no challenge, would you?"

Shanks grunted. "That would make me a bad brother, wunn't it..." He gulped from his drink once more then passed out.


	5. Bedtime

Much, much later that night...it was early the next morning, actually...Shanks was ready to sleep his drunkenness off. He had already sobered up enough to make his bed, which he would make Melia sleep in while he took the floor. Melia had already dropped off once, but of course that didn't last long what with the partying going on.

Melia sat on the bed sleepily, answering questions from Shanks as he put together a crude bed on the floor for himself. "So, why is it that little Bara animal calls you her sister, eh?" he glanced at her curiously.

Melia's eyes narrowed just a bit with frustration. She heard that question just a little too often. "There's more than one way to make a family," she informed him a little snappishly, then sighed, gave him an apologetic look and softened her tone (although he really never noticed it being harsh in the first place). "There's lots of 'families' that can't find it in their hearts to do anything but hurt each other. If Bara and I love each other more than that, I believe we can be a more of a real family than that."

"Makes sense to me. Of course, I _am_ drunk," Shanks laughed a bit, then a frown crossed his face. "Speakin' of families and whatnot...whatever happened to that whore you call a mother?" he inquired.

Melia dropped her face a little. "When I was seven...Mama got really drunk and drowned herself."

"Really? That's too bad." The sarcasm was light but obvious in Shanks's voice. Melia merely sighed remembering the traumatic day. Shanks wisely decided to change the subject.

"So...you got a job?" he asked, taking yet another drink of grog. Melia nodded. "Well, what IS it then?" he prompted her with a laugh.

"I'm on the entertainment crew on a cruise ship. One of the ones Daddy used to work on, you know? He got me a job there."

"Ah yes. Dear old Dad," Shanks nodded, putting his bottle down. Though he managed to find a job on a prestigious cruise line, their mutual father was involved in illicit activities (namely drug-dealing and pimping...both of their mothers, in fact, had worked for him and had been his favorites at the time of the siblings' conceptions). The cruise line job itself, however, though it was a cover-up, was completely legit, and he worked as hard for that job as he did for his other "job".

"How'd he get you such a neat job?" Shanks inquired, surprised that she wasn't running a buffet or cleaning cabins.

"It wasn't hard actually. And it was partly luck. They had an opening for me…well, they made one. They were doing daddy a favor, mostly. But I got the benefit of it. Of course, I almost got fired when they found out what daddy did on that ship in his spare time. That was pretty dramatic."

Shanks burst out laughing, which hurt his head. He winced and observed, "Well, you must've become pretty important to them if they didn't fire you."

"Yeah, maybe...Daddy was usually nice to me." Melia said thoughtfully, disregarding the fact that this had little to do with their previous conversation. "Well, whenever I saw him anyway. He'd always bring me pretty things."

"God knows he can afford it," Shanks said with a laugh. "So, you're an entertainer? What do you do? Not the same thing as your mother, I hope."

"Oh, no no no. Not at all," Melia shook her head quickly, blushing a little in shame for her late mother. "Well, mostly what I do most is sing in the little cafes and such on board the ship. Sometimes they make me a stagehand or something though." She made a face. "I don't like that."

"Oh, you sing, do you? Let's hear it then," Shanks said with a grin.

Melia shook her head again, a little startled. "Oh, no...I..." she tried to think of an excuse.

Shanks laughed. "You make a job of singing to any number of people and yet you're embarrassed to sing in front of your brother?"

"It's...it's...different..." Melia faltered, not sure how to explain it. "Audiences are...anonymous. And...when I sing to them...the most intimate relationship we have is fan and performer. But when it's in front of...an individual person...it's just a lot more unsettling."

"Even a drunk individual person? Okay, okay...I'll take your word for it." Shanks rolled his eyes playfully. "Maybe you can sing for the crew sometime then." He glanced at a small watch on his wrist then looked back up at her. "We'd better get at least a little sleep. I'm gonna have one heck of a hangover tomorrow as it is." He groaned at the thought.

"Oh, okay...but wait! What about Bara? Can she sleep in here too?"

"Oh maaaan...you've got to be kidding me..." Shanks made the mistake of looking into Melia's heart-melting "puppy eyes". He sighed and stood up. "Fine, fine, I'll go get the little beast." He went out the door and was gone so long that Melia nearly fell asleep, but jerked her head up hearing footsteps at the door.

Bara stomped inside as obnoxiously as possible. She paused once inside and announced on a whim, "It smells funny in here."

"Th...thank you..." Shanks rolled his eyes and pushed her toward the bed where Melia was. "Go to bed with...your sister."

"EW! Don't touch me! And you're crazy if you think I'm gonna sleep in that bed! It's probably full of FLEAS."

"YOU, sweetheart, are going to be full of BULLET HOLES in about 2 BLOODY SECONDS."

"Bah! You don't scare me! I'm sleeping on the floor."

"Are you sure? That's where I'm sleeping. I don't want to contaminate you with my scurvy."

"If you have any sort of disease or condition or...or disorder that I catch, I'll drain your bloodstream and replace it with kitchen cleaners!"

This went on for awhile, and Melia knew it would do no good to get involved, so she merely curled up in Shanks' bed and went to sleep over the noise. _I swear, they act more like siblings than we do, _she thought.


	6. New Friends

Everyone had a bit of a rough time waking up the next morning...although some had it rougher than others. Melia and Bara were still exhausted when they were woken up because of how late they'd been up and all they'd been through the former day, but they had it easy compared to almost everyone else, who had to deal with not only the same thing but a stomach (and bladder...and...head...) full of grog.

As Benn had predicted, Shanks himself wasn't even able to wake up on his own. Lucky Roux, the ship's chef and a "good friend" of the captain, crept into the captain's quarters at about 11 in the morning and, seeing the two girls cuddled up together and asleep, tried to think of a tortuous way to wake Shanks up without bothering them. He finally decided the best method was to drag the captain's sleeping body out of the cabin and sit on his face. It did the trick, although understandably, Shanks wasn't exactly happy about it.

"Ugh! What's your problem?" the captain demanded to know as he shakily stood up, holding his aching head in agony.

"Goooooood morning, Captaaaaain!" Lucky sang out obnoxiously, banging Shanks "affectionately" on the back.

"Ioughtakillyou..." Shanks groaned loudly and went back into his room.

"Don't fall back asleep now! Or I'll have to wake you up again," Lucky Roux called after him with a smirk.

"I know, I know, I know, I know, I'm AWAKE, thanks. And I don't plan on going back to sleep, at least not around here," Shanks said irritably before slamming his door, ignoring the obnoxious "Just checkiiiiing!" coming from the other side of it. He then turned to look at the two girls asleep in his bed. He frowned in thought, gently sat on the bed, and yanked Bara out of it. "Rise and shine," he commanded her as she groaned, barely awake despite the thump she received. He then turned to Melia and gently shook her shoulder. "Time to wake up, kid."

Melia slowly opened her eyes and focused them, remembering where she was. She sat up and yawned then smiled sleepily and said, "G'morning." Her eyes trailed to Bara who was on the floor still and she blinked.

"Bara must've fallen off the bed," Shanks commented with a serious expression, then dragged Bara back up on the bed and slapped at her cheek a bit to wake her up.

Bara woke up, alright, and nearly bit off his hand. "RAPE! ABUSE! RAAAAAAAPE!" she screamed as Melia tried to calm her down. Shanks just snorted.

"Shhh! You're not being raped. Stop that." Melia scolded the red-headed girl and shook her shoulders gently as Shanks nearly withered away from the headache Bara had worsened. Women...

Bara stopped screaming abruptly and turned to look at Shanks. "I had a dream that you got your arm bit off by a Sea King," she informed him calmly.

"You're such a sweet child," the captain said mellowly, tempted to give her a noogie but knowing that might very well get him castrated, and he already felt he had lost the use of enough of his body parts for the morning. So he went on. "Hey, you two, we've docked at an island that I wanted to show you. Well...YOU, mostly," he specified, nodding to Melia. He stood up and, looking at them, commented almost to himself, "I suppose you wouldn't very much like to stay in those same clothes much longer..." He laughed a bit. "Well, after breakfast I'll give you some money so you'll be able to go out and buy whatever you like. Try to make it practical though. I doubt you'd want to be wearing those tooth-pick shoes that I see women wearing if we have a storm. I'm going to go make sure the crew's all in order. See you at breakfast. Or...lunch...or whatever Lucky's serving." And with that he left the two girls to get themselves up and about.

They both freshened up as best as possible under the circumstances, and 10 minutes later Melia felt awake enough to leave the room and see what was happening. Bara stubbornly refused to leave the room, so Melia simply shrugged and left without her, knowing her sister wouldn't budge from her decision for awhile.

Melia stepped out of the room and looked around timidly, a little unsure of where to go or what to do. All of sudden she was attacked by two huge sets of paws that nearly knocked her backwards. Trying to regain composure, she realized the horrible monster attacking her was merely a large Rottweiler-ish mutt with merry but intelligent eyes and a pink collar. Melia gasped a bit for breath and sighed in relief. She wasn't exactly the bravest girl in the world, but if there was one thing she'd never been afraid of it was dogs, no matter how intimidating they seemed.

She smiled and, removing the dog's paws from her chest, scratched it behind its ears. She didn't exactly feel like checking for a gender, so she decided to assume it was a boy until she found out otherwise— "…oh, wait, you have a pink collar, don't you?" she murmured thoughtfully as the monster wagged its tail. "I suppose you must be a girl then."

"AURÉLIE." Both Melia and her new friend looked up hearing a firm, authoritative voice. The dog went bounding happily over to the owner of the voice, who looked at Melia and smiled.

"Sorry about that. I thought someone would have warned you before they let her go bouncing around." Benn Beckman shook his head at the dog but patted her head affectionately at the same time.

Melia laughed a bit. "I don't mind. I love dogs. And cats. And…birds…" she paused, realizing how long her list could go on. "I like animals!" she said with a giggle. "Her name's Aurélie? Is that what I heard?" she asked curiously.

Benn nodded. "Yes, her name's Aurélie. She's sort of the ship's guard dog."

"But she likes Beckman the best of course," Lucky Roux complained as he walked by. Benn rolled his eyes.

"I'm the only one that feeds her and gives her water. The rest of you are too busy trying to get her to fetch something when she wants to take a nap."

"Yuh-huh, whatever you want to think." Lucky Roux said, then looked at Melia. "Oh, your brother's eating breakfast, dear. Follow me if you'd like, I'm headed back toward that area right now."

Melia paused a moment to scratch Aurélie's head one last time and nod to Benn, then followed Lucky Roux into a large room that looked like a lounge. It probably WAS a lounge, actually. Lucky motioned for Melia towards the direction where Shanks was sitting, talking with some of his crew good-naturedly.

She smiled thankfully at Lucky Roux then sat down next to Shanks and smiled sweetly, waiting for him to notice her. After a moment he glanced in her direction and stared at her. "Oh! It's you!" he said, seeming a little spacey.

"Yes, it's me," she replied, with a puzzled smile. "You're still not really awake, are you?" She laughed timidly.

"Mm, I guess not." Shanks laughed as well and tugged one of her pigtails playfully. "Sorry, I'd eat breakfast with you, but I need to go make sure some things get done before anyone can go ashore. Come find me if you need anything." He patted her shoulder and she smiled and nodded as he walked out.

"You hungry?" Lucky Roux appeared beside her rather suddenly, making her jump ever so slightly. She looked up at him and blinked and he placed a plate of fruit and bread on her lap. "There's a lot there, I know. I don't know how much you normally eat so just eat 'til you're full. And if you do happen to need more come to the kitchen." He nodded to her and walked away with surprising agility.

"Th…thank you!" Melia called to him politely after the moment it had taken her to collect her scattered thoughts. She picked up a piece of pineapple and nibbled at it gingerly, observing the crew. They seemed to her like the typical pirate crew…although they did seem to be able to back up their words with actions a lot better than most pirate crews she'd seen. That wasn't a bad thing, really. Pirates who made empty threats weren't really pirates at all, as far as she was concerned, since they were nothing to worry about...not that she wouldn't worry about them, but that was just who she was. But in any case they appeared to be, for the most part, extremely rowdy, though very hard-working as well.

"Hay, baby," a deep voice suddenly growled seductively into her ear, startling her considerably. "You free tanight?"

She looked up at the unknown pirate with bewilderment. "P-pardon?" she asked timidly.

"I said, whatcha got goin' on tanight? Wanna come back ta my cabin with me fer sumthin' ta drink 'n...stuff?" He grinned suggestively, and there was liquor on his breath.

Even so, it took Melia a good ten or fifteen seconds to register the true meaning of the invitation. Once she did, though...

"ExCUSE ME?" she jumped to her feet glared at him furiously, her face red with anger and embarrassment and her voice's volume rising to an "outdoor voice". "Just who do you think you are, you...you pig?!" Her tiny fists clenched involuntarily.

The strange pirate's grin was replaced for a moment with a puzzled look, but the perverted grin came back quickly. "Hay, c'mon Doll, wut's yer problem? You dun needa play hardda git. I'm a reel pleeser, y'know wut I meen?"

Furious beyond words, Melia couldn't think of anything to say and turned away from the man and tried to calm herself.

"...waidda minnit. You think yer too gud fer me or sumthin', bish?" she heard him drawl angrily as his eyes narrowed at her with vexation and sexual frustration. This man could not take a hint.

That little comment, however, served to snap Melia's inner rubber band. Whirling around, she snapped at him, "No, I KNOW I'm too good for you, you swine!"

"Why you little--!" the pirate made an angry but drunken swipe at her with the intention of grabbing her. Melia easily ducked the swing and slapped him across the face with all her strength, then grabbed his thumb, and, knowing that the thumb is the body's weakest joint, twisted it _almost_, but not quite, hard enough to break it. Her opponent went into a string of vicious swearing and all sorts of colorful language as he nursed his thumb. He glared threateningly at her through his blurry vision and stumbled out of the lounge area.

Arms crossed resolutely over her chest, Melia watched him leave, a little shaky. Once she was sure he was gone for now, she sat back down, embarrassed about having made a spectacle of herself, good reason or not. She felt some murmuring and chuckling about her going around the room, but she tried ignore it. Huffing to herself and still a furious red color, she tried to pick at her breakfast some more even though she wasn't hungry anymore.

"Waita handle 'em, kid," a slurry-voiced man behind her said and laughed heartily, placing a hand on her shoulder. She jumped defensively and the hand withdrew. "Sorry," its owner chuckled. Melia looked up warily into the eyes of a yellow-haired, tall, skinny, and clearly somewhat buzzed man. He grinned at her in a friendly way, as if he'd known her since she was in diapers. "Can't blame 'im too much. You 'n yer sister are kinda cute. But you jus' tell yer big bro 'bout what he tried. Capt'n'll straighten 'im out good. REAL good." He laughed uproariously.

"Leave her alone, Yasopp. You're not sober enough to be holding conversations." Lucky Roux shook his head disapprovingly as he passed by again to serve someone.

Yasopp just smirked at Lucky Roux's back and turned to Melia again. "You think fast on yer feet, eh kid?" he laughed to himself again and staggered off to go do his chores. Melia merely sighed shakily and, deciding she was done with her breakfast, went to find Bara.


	7. No Justice

"Neeee…I'm hungry…" Bara complained to herself after about 10 minutes of sitting in solitude on Captain Shanks' bed. She had also had quite a struggle not falling back asleep, and knew there was really only one way to remedy that. Reluctantly she rose to her feet and walked to the door, then gingerly cracked it open and peeked out. There weren't many people around, she saw…just a few pirates doing their chores. Widening her view she saw that Shanks was also there, fixing some wooden boxes.

Bara sighed, a bit relieved that there was no crowd to push through. Carefully she walked out the door and shut it behind her, then paused a moment to find which direction the kitchen was. Suddenly she heard the captain's voice.

"Bara! Hey, Bara! C'mere a second!" Shanks waved to her with his hammer in his hand. Bara gave him a dirty look but warily came a little closer. Shanks grinned at her a little provokingly. (He loved making people mad. Just loved it.) "Sooo, I've been doing some research," he informed her slowly.

"Eh, get to the point," Bara growled. She was hungry…and cranky.

"…and I figured something out about you." The pirate captain grinned triumphantly.

"What's that?" Bara asked, a little confused. She didn't really have much to be found out about, as far as she was concerned.

"You aren't just Bara," Shanks said, raising an eyebrow. "You're Thorny Rose Bara." He grinned triumphantly once again.

Bara crossed her arms and scowled at him, a little angry that he was making such a big deal about her "pirate alias". "Eh? What about it?" she snapped.

Shanks laughed a bit and shrugged. "I dunno. I just thought it was funny." Suddenly his smile dropped and a serious, curious expression came over him. "But in all seriousness, there's something I was hoping you could tell me."

"Probably not." Bara scoffed.

Shanks shrugged and continued anyway. "I've heard only one story of how you two originally got on the Navy's bad side. And that story was from the Navy, so I doubt it's quite impartial." Bara's interest was pricked and she looked at him curiously. Encouraged, Shanks went on. "The story I heard was that you two teamed up and brutally attacked a debilitated Navy officer while he was incapacitated."

Bara snorted angrily. "That's BS," she growled.

"I figured. That didn't exactly fit the Melia I know. Now I wouldn't put it past YOU, but Melia isn't that type." Bara shrugged and didn't deny it. She'd do what it took to take out someone. "But now I'd like to know the real story." Shanks looked at her with what actually seemed to be a bit of esteem.

Bara paused for a moment, then sighed. "Melia was singing at a bar on the ship and I was waiting on some customers. After Melia sang, she was always expected to go mingle with the customers and make them feel welcome. She did that like usual, and I did my thing too…" She stopped for a moment and looked at Shanks to make sure he was still listening and serious.

He was. "Go on, go on," he prompted with a nod.

So she continued. "Well, one night it turns out there was this big, important, high-ranking, S.O.B. Naval officer on the ship, and he was absolutely hammered. I mean HAMMERED. He'd try and talk me into...various inappropriate activities with him every time I came to serve him and I'd just ignore him and put his food or whatever down. Melia went over to his table before I got a chance to warn her about him, and tried to socialize with him like she was supposed to. He started hitting on her too and she took it pretty well. She tried to ignore it too, which is what we're trained to do.

"But he started getting a little pushy. Then I came over to his table to serve him again and he started getting pushy with me too. Melia and I decided to just leave him alone but as we were trying to leave him, he groped Melia's rear and didn't let go. She turned around and slapped him hard. He was furious and got up and tried to…I don't know, rape us or clobber us or something. I grabbed him and threw him against a wall, which was easy since he was so drunk. ….and I might have had a little adrenaline in my system.

"Lots of other things happened in the next 20 minutes that I don't quite remember since at some point we were both knocked out, but before I knew it we had the whole Navy against us. And as we both worked on a ship, we were labeled "pirates"."

Shanks scoffed. "That's ridiculous. Being on a ship doesn't make you a pirate any more than being in a bathtub makes you clean."

Bara merely shrugged and frowned a bit. "Well, tell them that. I doubt they'd care. As far as they're concerned, we're upstarts. I've even heard us compared to Captain Alvida before."

At this Shanks burst out laughing. "Alvida?! Are they blind? The two of you put together aren't even HALF of Alvida! "

Bara blinked. "I wouldn't really know. I've just seen her picture on wanted posters. And they do say a camera adds 10 pounds." She laughed a bit, not even realizing she was having a pleasant conversation with her "adversary".

Shanks stopped laughing and shook his head. "Well. How do your employers feel about your illicit activities?"

"They were really angry at the Navy," Bara said. "Our boss hates male chauvinist pigs as much as we do. She's a woman, too. So she protected us and our identities and didn't fire us or anything. She tried to go to court about it but her superiors talked her out of it. She was very nice."

"Mm." Shanks thought for a moment. "Too bad you had to have such a great boss." He laughed. "You think she'll take you back when I 'return' you two?"

Bara frowned thoughtfully. "I'm sure we can make up some good story as to why we weren't on board when they set sailed. THIS time, at least." Her frown dropped and she nodded with a bit of confidence.

"Well…I'll see what I can do to help," Shanks said, thinking it over. He hadn't considered this in his plan to spend some time with his sister.

"Well, I'm hungry," Bara said suddenly and with the cold touch back in her voice. "Where can I get something to eat?"

Shanks waved her in the direction of the kitchen. "Over there. I'm sure they'll throw you their scraps if you do some tricks for them," he advised her.

"Hysterical," Bara replied sarcastically, then walked over to the entrance of the lounge area, where she suddenly and quite literally bumped into her sister.

"Oh!" Melia gasped. "I'm so sorry! I didn't hurt you, did I?"

Bara rolled her eyes. "So terribly, you cow." She eyed the other girl for a moment. "Your arms are all red and blotchy. Did something happen?" she demanded.

"W-well…sort of...but…it's fine now, I took care of it. It's over." Melia laughed a bit nervously.

"Mm." Bara just frowned a little and shrugged. "Well…I'm hungry. I need breakfast."

"Oh, this way," Melia said, leading Bara back to where her abandoned plate was. "I already ate what I wanted. You can have the rest."

"Yum, fruit." Bara sat down and happily ate her sister's leftovers. They both loved fruit madly. Melia laughed and sat down beside Bara.

"So…" said Bara between bites, "I told Captain Whatshisface about how we became 'pirates'".

Melia shook her head, remembering clearly that Bara had known his name before she herself even did. Overlooking that, she replied, "Oh? And what did he think?"

"I dunno. Actually, he asked me about it, I didn't just tell him. Must've wanted to know why we have wanted posters."

"We still have wanted posters?! I thought they gave up on printing ones for us!" Melia gasped.

"Well, I don't know if he actually has them or not. That was just what I assumed. Besides, even if they did stop, there must still be some out there. It's not like they never existed." Bara shrugged and gleefully stabbed her fork through the last piece of fruit on the plate, then consumed it almost whole.

The empty plate and its fork suddenly snatched from by the round man Melia had met earlier. "I'll take that, ladies," he said with a slight bow before rushing back to the kitchen with amazing speed. Bara just stared after him and blinked in confusion.

"I believe that's the chef on this ship," Melia informed her. "He seems nice enough."

"I…see. He seems...diligent, at least," Bara said with a raised eyebrow. She stood up and stretched a bit. "Well, dear, let's go see what's out on this island we're at. If the good captain will let us, that is."

Melia nodded and stood with her. "Yes, let's go ask him," she agreed, linking arms with her sister.


	8. A Secret

That's just what the sisters did. Arm in arm, they went to find Captain Shanks again. Shanks was expecting them at any moment so he wasn't surprised to see them wandering around below him. "Just wait a minute, I'll be right with ya!" he called to them from his perch in the crow's nest. He finished the task he'd been working on, then...instead of climbing down the ladder...leaped down from the crow's nest, much to Melia and Bara's horror. He didn't notice their looks, and wiping his hands on his jeans and catching his breath, he inquired, "What can I do for ya?"

Bara found her voice first. "We wanted to go ashore if we can."

"Ah! Of course, of course." Shanks mumbled to himself for a moment. "Well, will you be alright on your own or should I send someone with ya? I'd come myself but I'm busy. I'll be out there later though."

"We'll be fine, we don't want to bother anybody! Besides, we're pretty good at finding our way around. When you work on a cruise ship you kinda hafta figure those things out." Melia had finally found her voice. She laughed lightly.

"Alright, if you're sure." Shanks nodded and let the gangplank down for them. "Oh, wait a moment. Wait right here." He ran off and returned a minute later with a handful of berri-bills in his hand. He quickly divided it between them and gave them each their own handful, despite both of their objections to the money, then pushed them out onto the gangplank. "Off with you. You're not allowed back on 'til you have some new clothes on."

Finding themselves kicked off the ship, the two girls looked at each other, shrugged, and went off into the town hand-in-hand. Within what couldn't have been more than a couple hours they'd found a couple of pretty but practical new outfits. A little tired from their shopping expedition, they sat down on a bench and talked for about 10 minutes about their plans for the day.

"Onii-sama said he'd be joining us a bit later, but…I don't know when that is," Melia frowned thoughtfully. "I don't know if we should go back to the ship and let him know we're still alive, or hang out here.

"Well, I don't care about that. But since you do, I'll come with you wherever you decide. I can't help with the decision, though," Bara replied with a laugh. "Do whatever you want."

"Well, personally, I think you should stay here and wait for him," a familiar voice from behind them joined the conversation with its own opinion. The two girls turned around to see Shanks leaning against their bench, a handful of his crew with him.

"Oh! You're here already! That was quick!" Melia said. Shanks blinked at her.

"Already? Quick? What are you talking about?" he asked, puzzled. "You girls have been out here all day."

"W…we have…?" Melia and Bara exchanged surprised looks. "Guess time really flies when you're having fun."

"I've heard a lot of women say that after a shopping trip," Shanks said jokingly, shaking his head as if they were hopeless cases.

"Pfft, come on, Cap'n. You don't even KNOW a lot of women," Lucky Roux called over from the tree he was sitting in, inciting a round of raucous laughter. Forgetting that they were in the company of two young ladies, Shanks almost gave him a rather rude gesture, but he managed to refrain from doing so and turned back to Melia and Bara.

"Hmph. Good, you got new clothes." He nodded approvingly then stood up straight. "Some of my crew and I planned on camping out on the island tonight. Wanna come with us? Don't feel obligated to, I'll more than understand if camping isn't your cup of tea. But we'll be roasting Lucky Roux over the fire, in case you are interested."

"Camping? But…where would we camp?" Melia inquired. She hadn't seen any good places for camping so far.

"Yeah, let's see the camping ground first," Bara said warily.

Shanks grinned merrily. "Actually, I was hoping you'd say that. Follow me." He started off with those of his crew that had come with him, and Melia and Bara jumped up and darted after them.

After no more than 15 minutes of walking, they came out of a dense forest, which the more delicate members of the party (which actually included only the two young ladies) had to be helped to push through. Shanks suddenly made an opening in a bush in front of him to get a view of what lay on the other side of it. "Aha!" he said and, grinning happily, led them out into the open and they all blinked painfully from the sudden sunlight. Once their eyes adjusted, they looked around.

What lay before them was the sweetest-smelling, cleanest, prettiest field that Melia and Bara had ever seen, and as for the others, it was definitely in their top ten. Shanks began calling out orders then glanced behind him to make sure the girls were even still there.

"This place hasn't changed a bit. That's one reason I like it. I like change and all, but a little stability every now and then is nice. But don't tell anyone I said that," He laughed. "You stayin' for the night with us?"

"Oh, yes, yes, of course, yes!" Melia exclaimed at once, and Bara nodded quietly.

"Yes, we will. You'll have to forgive Melia though if she doesn't stop rolling around in the flowers." Bara pinched her sister's side playfully. Melia stuck out her tongue in response.

"Naw, that just means more room for us if she stays out here," Shanks said jokingly. "Oh, that reminds me...I do need to warn you, we don't sleep in tents when we come here. We sleep in there." He turned and pointed to a mid-sized, clean-looking cave. "It's actually a lot better than staying in tents," he continued.__"That way we can control the temperature better and it's easier to see if there are any wild animals to worry about. Don't worry, we keep a fire going all night."

"I've never done that before. That sounds fun," Melia said brightly, skipping over to the cave's entrance and peering inside. "Hey, I hear bats!" she exclaimed.

"What? Bats? Oh…yeah. Sorry, forgot to mention that. Um, that probably scares you back to the ship all in itself, huh?" Shanks laughed guiltily.

"What?! Of course not! I love bats!" Melia jumped up and down with excitement. "And so does Bara! Isn't that right, Bara?!"

"Mm-hmm. They're cute," Bara smiled back at Melia and nodded icily to Shanks, who stared at them in disbelief.

"And I thought my head was screwed up BEFORE..." If it hadn't been, it probably was now,__since he had__started to bang his forehead against a tree with surprising aggression.

"Calm down, Onii-san," Melia scolded, skipping back over. "It's not unusual for girls to think

weird things are cute."

"Mm…you have a point there. At least you seem to be in a great mood now." He laughed at her inability to stay still.

"Yes, I can't wait til twilight. That's when the bats come out!" she said happily, then began to run around the field, picking flowers. Bara joined her.

The early evening came around soon enough, and found everyone enjoying themselves (though admittedly, some needed the assistance of alcohol). Bara, although she was having fun with Melia, couldn't shake the feeling that Shanks was staring at her.

Finally she found a moment where Melia was preoccupied with something else (to be specific, a daisy chain) and went over to him and confronted him. "'Scuse me, sir, s'there something I can HELP you with?" she inquired, irritated.

Shanks stared off into the distance for a moment and laughed. "Naw…sorry if it seems like I'm staring. You just look...a lot like someone I know and it makes me do a double take every time I see you."

Bara began to feel awkward. "Someone…you…know…?" she repeated slowly. Then, not really wanting to hear the explanation, she shrugged and turned to skip off.

"He'll be here soon, you know," Shanks called after her with a slight smirk. She turned to look at him. His eyes were closed with relaxation; one arm was behind his head, and the smirk was still there. She narrowed her eyes and went back over to him.

"WHO will be here soon? What are you talking about?" She snapped irritably. Her eye twitched angrily when his only response was a nonchalant shrug and the widening of his smirk. She growled angrily under her breath and stomped back off to help Melia with her daisy chains.


	9. Strangely Familiar

Bara stomped nervously back over to her sister, who was still making daisy chains. She sat down with a sigh and began to make her own. Melia looked up at her curiously. "Something wrong?" She asked with a timid smile.

Bara shook her head. "Eh, naw, not really." She smiled back and managed to regain her composure.

"Well, what were you talking to Shanks about?" Melia inquired a little anxiously. "Everything's okay, isn't it?"

"Yes, of course it is, you dork. He was just being an idiot, that's all." Bara flicked the side of Melia's head playfully. "I'm not too surprised you two are related."

Melia immediately retaliated. "Oh really? I was just going to say maybe there was a mistake and he was YOUR brother instead."

"So you agree he's an idiot then?" Bara grinned mischievously. Melia rolled her eyes.

"No, of course not. I mean, not a lot more than…anyone…else…" Melia laughed sheepishly, realizing how horrible she sounded. Bara just snorted and shook her head.

Suddenly they were both pounced upon by a giant set of paws. Melia was a little startled but knew what was going on. Bara's first reaction was to sock whatever the thing was in the face, but luckily she saw Aurélie before her instincts took control. "Where the heck did this thing come from?!" she demanded of nobody in particular.

"You mean you haven't met her yet? Her name's Aurélie. She's the ship's pup." Melia smiled and scratched the dog behind the ears. Aurélie licked her hand lovingly.

"It has no manners. Your brother must have trained it," Bara said with a playful frown. She, too, however, couldn't resist scratching the monster behind the ears.

"She followed us here. She loves ta' camp," explained one of the sailors, whose name was Pierce.

"She's up to date on all her rabies shots, right?" Bara inquired. She couldn't help thinking of all the nasty little rabid things Aurélie probably had the opportunity to catch.

Before she could get an answer, Lucky Roux shouted across the field that dinner was ready. Melia and Bara both paused so they wouldn't be flattened by the thundering stampede (led by Aurélie), then got up and timidly followed the crew over to where dinner was being served.

Shanks, seeing they were both tentatively hanging towards the back of the group, made sure the two girls got some dinner and a decent place to sit. The two ate hungrily. They'd forgotten they hadn't eaten since brunch that morning, and that had only been a few pieces of fruit.

Bara still felt she was being observed, and it was making her increasingly nervous. She didn't want to bring anything up this time though. She was afraid of the answer Shanks would give her.

As it turned out, she didn't have to bring anything up anyway. When Melia wasn't paying attention, Shanks looked at directly at Bara, grinned, and winked discreetly. She glared at him spitefully and did her best to whisper, "What the heck is wrong with you?"

The reply she got was a simple, infuriating, "Nothin'." At this point, Bara lost her appetite altogether. She knew full "what" was wrong. Putting her plate down, she wandered toward the beach.

"Oh, Bara, where are you going?" Melia asked, jumping up to follow her.

"No, no, stay there. I'll be right back. I…have to go to the bathroom," Bara lied, then raced off before she could be questioned further.

Melia was a little confused. She felt as though something strange was going on. She ate the rest of her dinner, then seeing Bara wasn't back yet, began to worry a little. She looked at her older brother to see if he was having the same thoughts.

He just looked at her placidly, smiled, and said, "Don't worry. She's in good hands."

(--------------)

"It's been so long…" Bara's face was pale with shock. "I…I barely know you anymore."

"I know that," came the snappish, yet soft reply. "It can't be helped. You and your mother weren't there when I came back for you. Where is your mother? How is she?"

The silence Bara replied with seemed to last all night for both of them. A tear slid down her cheek as she tried to speak. "She…didn't…make it…after Lieutenant Graham and the Navy…burned down the house—"

A quiet, furious growl stopped her mid-explanation. She looked up at her father with an expression that clearly told him the rest of the story, the part that she couldn't put into words, that not a night went by where she didn't remember her mother shoving her out the back door and screaming that she must run and not stop until she couldn't move her legs anymore, that the malicious laughter, the gunshots whizzing past her tiny body rang afresh in her ears every time she tried to sleep.

Revenge boiled within her father's heart, so much so that Bara could nearly see the red, furious aura surrounding him. Knowing there was nothing he could do at the moment, he vowed silently to bring destruction upon the man who had been attempting to ruin his family since the day he'd been accepted into the Navy.

He'd take care of that later, though. At the moment, he was with his daughter whom he hadn't seen in twelve years, so he changed the subject abruptly. "How did you come to be all the way on this island?"

Bara told her and Melia's story in complete detail. When she was done, he nodded thoughtfully. "So you're in the care of Red-Haired Shanks right now? I thought I saw his ship earlier."

"Yes, he and some of his crew and Mel—my sister are in a field over there," Bara replied, pointing over her shoulder to where the campsite was. "They're camping out."

"Camping out?" the man raised an eyebrow, then shrugged, knowing there probably wasn't a good explanation. "Well, take me there, please. I'd like to speak with him."

"Okay, Daddy," Bara said with an affectionate smile, and taking him by surprise by grabbing his hand, led him off toward the field.

When they got to the campsite Bara was immediately greeted by hollerings of "WHERE WERE YOU?!" and "I've missed you so, my princess!" She merely smirked at them and presented her father. The hollers immediately dissipated into puzzled murmuring and a few nervous laughs.

Shanks had seen Bara and the new visitor enter the field. He stood and hollered a bit drunkenly, "Why, it's good old Hawkeyes! I hadda funneh feelin' you might show yerself tonight, Mihawk!"


	10. All Grown Up

"So what brings you here on this fine evening, Mihawk?" Shanks asked, pouring his old acquaintance a drink.

"You have something of mine, apparently," Mihawk responded coolly, taking the drink. Shanks looked at him, puzzled.

"Something of...? Oh! That! Of course. Well you really shouldn't leave your things lying around like that, it's very careless," Shanks scolded him. Bara glared at him, angry at being referred to as a "thing".

"Ooooh, Sencho-san, just wait til Bara tells her pop what you've been doing to her all this time. You'll really get it then," Lucky Roux said with an innocent grin. Mihawk's attention was immediately piqued.

Shanks scoffed a bit nervously. "I didn't do a thing to her, don't listen to him. OR HER," he added, glaring at Bara and pointing an accusing finger. Mihawk narrowed his eyes at Shanks warningly.

Bara decided to be merciful...for now. Melia might be a bit upset at bloodshed. "Naw, he was no worse than the rest of the crew, really. They're all just a bunch of drunken idiots."

Mihawk nodded, completely understanding what she was talking about. Shanks opened his mouth to say something but decided not to press his luck any more than it had already been pressed for him (thanks to his dear friend Lucky Roux). He shrugged and looked around for Melia.

Melia had actually been present through the whole discussion, but had said nothing and barely moved more than it was necessary to breathe. She knew she was in no immediate danger but like Shanks, wasn't going to press her luck (even though she didn't really have Lucky Roux to worry about). She knew very well who Bara's father was, and had for some time, but never really thought about it and never had seen him in person, so before tonight he might as well have never existed as far as she was concerned.

"Well, Mihawk, yer welcome to stay the night with us if you'd like. We plan on sleeping in yonder cavern," Shanks said with a dramatic wave of his hand in the cave's direction. "Of course, we don't actually plan on going to sleep for hours yet."

"I believe I'll stay here and speak with Bara until you decide to go to sleep," Mihawk replied. "I'm most likely leaving the island after that."

"Suit yourself!" Shanks said cheerfully, stretching out on a log. "Feel free to keep Bara out of our hair for as long as you like."

(-----)

"How've you been since I last saw you, Daddy?" Bara inquired of Mihawk. They had walked a short distance from the field so they could talk in peace and were now sitting across from each other on the forest ground.

Now, being one of the seven Warlords of the Sea, Mihawk possessed great intuition. In fact, he'd been worried sick several times as his internal radar picked up the terror and sadness of his family, but Mihawk would never admit that, especially not to his daughter. So he merely nodded towards Bara and replied, "Just fine. How have you handled yourself since you've been on your own?"

"I've been fine too," Bara said, smiling. "Like I told you, I found a job on a cruise line waiting in their restaurants and such. And that's where I met my sister Melia, too. She's my age and sometimes all we have is each other and our job."

"And you left this job to come join Shanks' crew?" Mihawk stared at her in mild confusion. Bara shook her head and laughed.

"No, no, Daddy. They kidnapped me. I mean, they didn't mean to. They mistook me for Melia."

"...they mistook you for that black-haired girl?"

"No!" Bara had to laugh at how bad her explanations were. She was so excited to see her father again that she just couldn't speak straight. "No, see, Melia's actually Shanks' sister, but she didn't know it, so he came to get her, and he sent some crewmen out to get her and when they saw my red hair they assumed I must be related to Captain Shanks."

"...I see," Mihawk said, musing over her awkward explanation for a moment. Then he looked his daughter up and down, soft pride forming in his formidable hawk-eyes. "...your hair isn't even close to the same shade of red as that idiot's."

"Well, I guess his crew is even more stupid than he is," Bara responded with a shrug. It was true that she looked nothing like Shanks. Her fierce eyes were the same honey-shade of her fathers, only hers were much softer...like her mother's. Well, they were really only soft compared to Mihawk's. Her glare was still rather intimidating. Her nose was small and sharp, as if to emphasize the strong spirit her eyes conveyed. Her hands, although small, looked very strong and capable, and her shoulders were always proudly squared. Her straight, reddish (actually almost strawberry-blonde) hair was a little past shoulder length, as her father noticed.

"...You stopped cutting your hair," he observed with a touch of disapproval. "Don't you remember what I told you?"

"Yeah, yeah, I remember, Daddy, but I haven't had anyone to spar with, so it hasn't gotten in my way, and even if it did, all I have to do is put it in a ponytail or a bun, like they always made me do at work anyway. It's really easy to take care of, all I have to do is wash and brush it, same as when it was short. And it really makes me feel...prettier...when my hair is longer." Bara looked at her father and pleaded with her slanted eyes. He merely sighed and nodded with closed eyes as if he'd been expecting such a breach in training.

He opened his eyes and looked at her for a moment longer before telling her in a tone as tender as he could muster (which still sounded anything but tender to the casual listener), "You look just like your mother did when she was your age."

"That's what everyone in the village said. They said I'd grow up to look just like her. I don't...remember too well, but I think they were right," Bara said with a bittersweet smile. She was very pleased to receive a compliment like that from her father. "...thank you, Daddy."

(-----)

Melia glanced over toward where Bara and Mihawk were conversing with a bit of unease. She had always been just a little insecure by nature and and the thought of being left friendless always made her nervous...especially since she really only had one friend.

Shanks looked at her and laughed. "Don't worry kid, the chances of anyone wanting to even be close to a crab like Mihawk for very long are pretty low. She won't go with him or anything, I feel pretty sure of it."

"Well, he IS her father," Yasopp pointed out thoughtfully as he poured himself another drink. Shanks flicked him in the back of the head discreetly and lipped to him, "Shut it."

Turning back to Melia with a light laugh he added to Yasopp's comment, "...which is all the more reason she wouldn't want to stay with him. I mean, if he was MY father I'd be running the other direction."

"If HE was YOUR father, you'd be dead," Lucky Roux said, shaking his head at his Captain, whose childish retort was to stick out his tongue.

"YOU'LL be dead if you say something like that to Mihawk again," he muttered.

Melia couldn't help but laugh a little. She smiled at Shanks, feeling a bit better. "Well, she might leave if she gets a chance to be 'rescued', Onii-tama," she said, still laughing.

"That doesn't sound like something Mihawk's likely to offer," Benn Beckman remarked, almost to himself, and put out a cigarette by shoving it into a rock. "He's not best known for being the warm-hearted type."

"Yeah, if you wanna know anything about warm-heartedness, just ask Beckman over here," Shanks advised Melia, who just raised an eyebrow in confusion as her brother turned and gave Benn an insolent look. Benn just shook his head at him, hiding a smile.

Shanks turned back to Melia and patted her head. "I think your Bara loves you too much to just leave you anyway."

"I know, I know she does, I know all that, I'm just very...clingy, I guess..." Melia sighed. "Or something like that."

"Nonsense, you just love your sister," Shanks comforted her with a warm smile, then laughed. "Like me."

Melia smiled back and poked his shoulder. "...so much that you have to kidnap her? And then take her out in the middle of the ocean to God-knows-where and expect her to sleep in a cave full of bats?"

"But I thought you liked bats!" Shanks said plaintively, then grinned and finished off yet another bottle of grog.

Melia merely frowned and sighed with feigned contempt.


End file.
